It is sometimes convenient when using a telephone to have both hands free to manipulate papers and the like. One very awkward way of accomplishing this with a conventional telephone handset is to simply tilt ones head to cradle the set against ones shoulder.
To avoid this, various shoulder rests that generally clamp onto the handset have been developed in the past. Many of these are fixed units although some fold at least partially down against the handset when not in use. A typical example of the latter is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,584,807 issued Feb. 5, 1952 for a Telephone Attachment invented by M. J. Miller. Another example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,687,452 issued Aug. 24, 1954 for a Telephone Rest invented by L. Trank. Because of their mounting arrangement these units tend to provide only limited surface area support on the shoulder. In addition, because such units are clamped to the handset, they do not usually provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance to a contemporary telephone set. U.S. Pat. No. 3,582,574 issued June 1, 1971 for a Telephone Attachment invented by Mel Grau; discloses in which there is minimal protrusion when folded down. However, it too has only limited surface area support for the shoulder.